THE TIGER BITTERN. 



Akdea tigrina. Gmel. 



The essential characters of the genus Ardea, given at 

 page 137, are equally applicable to the present species, 

 which belongs, however, to a different subdivision from 

 the Common Heron there described. Its vulgar name 

 of Tiger Bittern indicates its close affinity to the Com- 

 mon Bittern of Europe, with which it agrees in the 

 comparative shortness of its neck and legs, the plump- 

 ness of its general make, and the dark ground-colour 

 and still darker markings of its plumage. We cannot 

 perceive in the appearance or manners of the living bird 

 any grounds for regarding it, with M. Cuvier, as the 

 type of a distinct subdivision of the genus ; an opinion 

 probably formed from the observation of badly stuffed 

 specimens, or from the inspection of Buffon's figures of 

 this and another nearly related bird, to both of which 

 the artist has erroneously given the form and attitude 

 of genuine Herons. 



